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Neutral Typeface Ideas?
Typofactory
Posts: 56
Hello,
I want to create a neutral typeface that, effectively, has no personality. I know that Untitled Sans already does this, but I think I can do it better (I don't, I just want practice). If you could spare a minute, please give ideas for each letter and how to make it as neutral as possible. Some more information on the font itself: It will be a Neo-grotesque with close apertures and 90° terminals (not unlike Helvetica). I only will be making the Latin and Greek alphabet, but in the future I might add the Cryllic alphabet. TL;DR ideas on a per-letter basis on making a neutral typeface.
I want to create a neutral typeface that, effectively, has no personality. I know that Untitled Sans already does this, but I think I can do it better (I don't, I just want practice). If you could spare a minute, please give ideas for each letter and how to make it as neutral as possible. Some more information on the font itself: It will be a Neo-grotesque with close apertures and 90° terminals (not unlike Helvetica). I only will be making the Latin and Greek alphabet, but in the future I might add the Cryllic alphabet. TL;DR ideas on a per-letter basis on making a neutral typeface.
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Comments
It's easier to have some outlines to work with and make them more neutral as you progress. IIRC Kris tested Untitled by setting long texts (books) in the typeface and reading paragraphs to see what typographic features caught his eye and stood out. He'd then go back and revise.
Adrian Frutiger’s methodology.
And this from Vanity Fair magazine in the 1930s: the photo-composited movie star.
I think a lot about neutrality in typefaces and while I’ve heard the sentiment that there’s no such thing as a neutral typeface–I don’t think that’s true. There are strata of boringness that have yet to be fully explored, and I don’t think it can exist in a solid state. In the ballet of typeface design, neutrality dances in tandem with its era. Consider Univers: a beacon of modern minimalism in the late 1950s, yet by the 1970s, it looked practically invisible and even made Helvetica sparkle like a glitter ball in comparison. In today's open-sans (Myriad) dominated landscape, Univers’s closed shapes and mechanical cadence grant it character and render it, dare I say, interesting. Seeking the pinnacle of typographic neutrality? Reflect upon the epoch's prevailing typefaces—Google's web staples, Microsoft's core repertoire, and Adobe's default types. Use these as your compass to chart the course towards the quintessential yawnworthy typeface.
That said, Aptos (Microsoft standardizing this year) and San Francisco (Apple’s system font) and Roboto (Google’s system font) are all neo-grotesques. The first two are definitely in the Helvetica vein, while Roboto is not as consistently so. Yet overall, it certainly seems like between them they define a general area for the 2020s “neutral zeitgeist.”
@Dave Crossland
I think part of the difficulty of thinking and talking about this subject is the confusion of concepts like neutral and average, and the former’s conventional—and hence cultural and momentary—expressions in established genres of geometry, structure and detail.